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Friday, September 25, 2009

Creamy Chipotle Ranch Dressing

As you may have heard, Texan's tend to want to dip everything in Ranch Dressing. When I have meetings at hotels, I try to put some sort of vinaigrette salad dressing on the table along with...you guess it... Ranch. I like to dress up Ranch at my house. Here is a little something different than my Jalapeno Ranch Dressing. For Creamy Chipotle Ranch Dressing you will need the following ingredients: garlic, salt, mayo, buttermilk, chipotle peppers in adobe, cilantro, scallions and lime zest.

Start by adding 2 minced garlic cloves to a mortar and pestle along with the salt.

Blend together to make a coarse paste.

In another bowl, add 1/3 cup of mayonnaise.

Add 2 Tablespoons buttermilk.

When a recipe calls for buttermilk and you don't have any, here's what you can do: for every cup of buttermilk, mix 1 tablespoon vinegar with 1 cup milk. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes or so. The combination will come close to the tangy creaminess of buttermilk.

What is buttermilk, anyway?

Real buttermilk is the sour liquid left over from the process of churning cream into butter. That's usually not what you get when you buy a carton at the store, however. Most commercial buttermilk is made by adding a culture to milk (like you would to make cheese). As the culture converts lactose to lactic acid, the milk thickens and sours. (Commercial sour cream is made by a similar process.) Info from cookthink

Chipotle peppers can most likely be found on the Mexican food aisle of your grocery store in a small can. The peppers come in adobe sauce. Mince one small chipotle with adobe and add to the bowl. Careful, these are hot!

Mince a handful of cilantro and add 3 tablespoons to the mixture.

Thinly slice one scallion, the green and white parts. Add to bowl.

Using one of my favorite kitchen tools, zest a medium lime until you have one teaspoon.